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DECISION ON BETHANY HOSPITAL
CUTS DELAYED AS OPPOSITION GROWS
APRIL 6, 2006— Opponents of threatened cuts to Bethany
Hospital won a victory this week when a state regulatory
agency decided to postpone a decision on the controversial
reductions for at least two months.
The decision by the Illinois Health Facilities Planning
Board to delay its ruling until no earlier than June comes
after West Side residents swarmed a public meeting late last
month to rail against the proposed elimination of the
Bethany’s OB/GYN treatment, mental health unit and substance
abuse program – on top of its recent closure of the
hospital’s full-service emergency room.
IHFPB originally intended to vote on the issue on April 25th
in Springfield. But on Wednesday the agency said it needs
more time to evaluate the public input it received – which
includes more than 12,000 written comments opposing the
service cuts – and examine information supplied by Advocate
Health Care, which owns Bethany.
“The thousands of residents who have worked so hard to save
Bethany Hospital are making a difference,” said Rev. Dr.
Marshall Hatch of New Mount Pilgrim Baptist Church and
Rainbow/PUSH. “We’ve made our voices heard, and we’re
heartened to see that state regulators take this matter
seriously. This issue deserves serious, careful scrutiny,
and it looks like we’re going to get it. We’re resolved to
win this fight.”
Bethany serves more than 70,000 patients annually, according
to Advocate Health Care’s website. But since it announced
its intention to eliminate major services at the hospital,
Advocate, a non-profit religiously affiliated company, has
ignored those statistics and claimed that the hospital is
under-used.
The potential closure of Bethany services has sparked an
outcry from elected officials, religious leaders and
community organizations representing the West Side.
Opponents claim that Advocate misled them last year when it
repeatedly said that it would maintain its investment in
Bethany. Those misrepresentations brought a harsh rebuke
from Chicago Alderman during a February meeting of the City
Council’s Committee on Health.
Meanwhile, the closure of Bethany services has intensified
longstanding concerns about glaring racial inequities in
Advocate’s spending policies. Since 1995, Advocate has spent
$605 million on capital improvements at its hospitals
serving mostly white, largely affluent communities, compared
to only $47 million at its facilities located in
neighborhoods with mostly low-income minority populations –
including Bethany.
Advocate also closed Ravenswood Hospital, another inner-city
facility, in 2003.
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Hospital Accountability Project, Service Employees International Union
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